Entries 81–90

The Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and sentient beings of the three realms and ten directions are all rejoicing over this occasion of universal deliverance through Maitreya's destined advent. They exhaust their compassionate vows and exert their full strength working toward the Great Gathering across the three realms. Yet it is in the human realm that this great work is guided and completed. My disciples! You who are White Era cultivators should seize this auspicious period well. Without envy or craving, truly and sincerely cultivate — only then will you not fail the transforming assistance of heaven and humanity.

In these final times, all truth and falsehood, good and evil, worthy and unworthy are gradually being revealed. This is not Heaven setting tests. It is the cultivator's own mentality deviating and falling — all because Dao-name, Dao-power, and Dao-influence cannot be seen through, compounded by disputes over human affairs. Demons arise from the mind; ordeals are self-invited. Therefore, in cultivating Dao one must carefully guard the subtlest, most hidden thoughts.

Your teacher lacks talent and virtue. I was unable to inspire my disciples to practice cultivation consistently from beginning to end, and as a result the temple has devolved into today's condition — splintered into factions, each seizing its own power. I only regret that your teacher did not remain longer in the human world to exert a little more effort. How many people have managed a temple of wondrous and unsurpassed virtue as though it were child's play! I am ashamed before the grace of Heaven and the trust entrusted by the patriarchs.

Cultivators of Dao in the human realm are excessively attached to merit and external forms. Every time they establish a piece of Dao work, they attract boundless interference and create layer upon layer of karmic consequences. On the contrary, they are less easily taught than the ghosts and spirits of the netherworld and the karmic creditors — beings who are already suffering and dare not seek more through greed. Those beings merely wish to kneel and listen to a single dharma assembly, to bathe in the Buddha-light, and thereby can immediately release greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance, giving rise to no deluded thoughts of merit or rank. In gratitude and repentance they await the direction of the Immortals and Buddhas, assist the Dao work in various places, and at that very moment transcend the sea of suffering. This is precisely the extraordinary merit of delivering the netherworld.

In the netherworld realm there are likewise administrative staff, lecturers, and instructors upholding the Heavenly Dao, assisting the Ancient Buddha Dizang in caring for souls awaiting deliverance. Being in the hells, they deeply know suffering. Their gratitude toward Divine Grace and Saintly Virtue is especially genuine and heartfelt, and they are free of the worldly mind of gossip and dispute. Therefore Heavenly Mother often commends them. My disciples should redouble their efforts, lest your teacher and the Matriarch be left to worry.

Today's temple presents an impressive outward appearance, and the Living Buddha's disciples fill the world. By rights one should rejoice. Yet your teacher instead feels shame. I am merely the Crazy Monk, bearing in vain the title of Guide-Teacher of the Three Realms. All glory belongs to the grace of Heaven and the vast compassion of the patriarchs. The unfolding of Dao work likewise depends on the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions upholding and protecting it — by Heavenly Mother's command, silently turning heaven and earth. The virtue of the nameless does not show itself. My disciples, without them, how could our generation have spread Dao across the four seas and broadly formed wholesome affinities? I wish that you would always deeply revere the grace of the Buddhas.

Towering temple halls and solemn Buddha halls are certainly not dispensable. But if those who cultivate and serve only compete over external forms, the original intent of Dao is lost. In those years, your teacher did not even have a single temple. With empty sleeves and a clean breeze, I wandered the world, equally free and unhindered. In the present time, heavenly timing is limited. It would be better to take the charitable funds sincerely offered by sentient beings and use them for relieving human suffering, supporting environmental protection, and providing medical aid. This too is a wholesome path for White Era cultivators.

At this moment, the earth is riddled with a thousand wounds. If you do not exert your full effort to repair and remediate it, this beautiful planet will wither and perish in your hands. The Immortals and Buddhas of all the dharma realms are worried on your behalf. My disciples! Beyond the environmental protection of spirit and morality, you must also commit concretely to action in maintaining the natural environment.

The advancement of Dao work depends half on human effort and half on heavenly power. When sincerity moves Heaven's heart and conditions ripen, the day naturally comes when water finds its channel. The expansion of Dao work is certainly cause for rejoicing, but you must not neglect the rescue of suffering sentient beings throughout the world. Today's turmoil in Somalia, the chaos in Bosnia, the upheaval in Cambodia, the suffering of the Kurdish people — all of them are Heavenly Mother's children, your relatives across accumulated lifetimes. I hope you will pray and dedicate merit often. If you are able, swiftly and concretely commit to relief.

Cultivate Dao solidly and genuinely. Properly uphold and protect the wisdom-life of the Dao arena. Your teacher has nothing to bequeath. I only hope my disciples will treat well the thousands upon thousands of brothers and sisters who truly cultivate and earnestly practice — let them rise, achieve, and return to Principle-Heaven. The ancient sages said: "To attain unsurpassed Buddhahood, first become the ox and horse of all beings." A cultivator of Dao should let sentient beings step upon my shoulders to achieve Dao. Your teacher is willing, together with the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, to pave with flesh and blood a stable path for sentient beings to cultivate Dao and attain Buddhahood.